Still More Daylilies

June 30, 2011 at 7:58 pm (Flowers, Gardening, Perennials)
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“Still More Daylilies”, a copyrighted post, was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana

The daylilies just don’t seem to stop. I didn’t realize how many daylilies I have added to my garden in the last three years until I started taking photos of them as they opened. I wish I would have started with these lovelies years earlier.

This is one is I received from my sister who in turn got it from my mother. I just love having plants from relatives and friends. Every time I see one of those plants, I think about the generous gardener who shared their plants with me.

 

 

Here are some others that have bloomed recently.

 

 

I think this next one is the first daylily I ever bought. It is called Plum Tree and is a terrific bloomer. The flowers are on the small side, but the quantity of blooms makes up for the size.

 

 

 

All of my red daylilies are in the garden bed around our front entry. This is only the second year that I have had any red daylilies, but I can’t wait to add more. This is one I bought in 2010, and it was just labled “Daylily, Red”. It is too pretty to have such a plain name.

 

 

Finally, one of my newest daylilies, a miniature one called Pocket Change. I purchased this one at the New Orleans Garden show in April, and even though they were bare root, all four of the plants bloomed. These are planted in the very front of the garden bed since the flowers are small and the stems are short.

 

 

Just a few more daylilies left to post, but that posting will have to wait for another day since working in the garden today has left me so tired tonight.

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Catching Up

June 19, 2011 at 9:53 pm (Gardening, Perennials)
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“Catching Up”, a copyrighted post, was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana

Sorry I have not been posting lately. Work got very hectic a few weeks back and kept me extremely busy, and when I would come home, this recent drought only allowed me time to water the garden. Then family issues came up and needed to be dealt with, and lastly, my computer crashed and had to be replaced. Finally, I realized I was just exhausted and needed to take a break, so I have been resting a bit more and the only garden work I have been doing is watering (I think my garden has become a little too big since it takes soooo long to water everything.)

It will take me a few posts to catch up with what has or had been happening in my garden. This drought we are experiencing has finally entered the bad phase. So far we have had no rain in June, only 0.67 inches in May and only 0.64 inches in April. In a normal year, these three months average about 16 inches of rain, and all we received is 1.31 inches. With high temperatures in the mid to high 90’s, you understand that I mostly spend my time watering and trying to keep plants alive.

Even with the drought, the daylilies have continued to bloom. One that I am sorry I did not buy more of is Little Wart. This is a precious, small daylily that deserves a better name.

 

 

The red daylilies that have only been in my garden for two years or less are doing very well. The first one I planted is always the first to bloom.

 

 

One of my oldest daylilies is Rose Passion. This is another small daylily that I have placed at the front of the border.

 

 

One of the big, frilly daylilies that is a recent addition from last year, certainly put on a show this year. This is one of the most prolific in my garden.

 

 

I didn’t realize how many daylilies I have added to the garden in the last few years. There are still a few more photos of other ones I will have to post. Since I have started planting just perennials, I have learned to appreciate the daylily. I look forward to their increasing in size so that I can divide them for a better showing. One mistake I made when first buying daylilies was that I bought only one plant of a particular variety. Now, I buy at least three of one variety so that there is a nice display of flowers of a single color.

This just goes to show that you always have something to learn.

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Daylily Part 2

May 9, 2011 at 6:28 pm (Flowers)
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“Daylily Part 2”, a copyrighted post, was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana

More daylilies have started blooming here, and many of these are ones that I only bought last year which makes seeing them bloom this year in the garden rather exciting. It is nice to see them settled in and how the flowers look next to other flowers.

One thing I have noticed this year is how the colors of a few of the daylilies are a little different this year than they were in previous years. Some of my old-fashioned red ones that I had in the last post are not as red as last year; they seem to be a little more brown-colored. One daylily bloom that is strikingly different this year is Eye-yi-yi. The past two years it has bloomed orange, but this year it is more of a peach color. Strange, huh?

 

 

One that is blooming with a true color is Misty Mayhaw. This daylily puts out many huge, thick petaled blooms on sturdy stems. This is a vigorous repeat bloomer, too.

 

 

Today’s final daylily is an unknown one which is a gorgeous, frilly peach. This is one of the ones I purchased just last year, and, unfortunately, it did not have a tag.

 

 

There are still more daylilies in the garden that will be blooming shortly. When I look around my garden at all the lovely daylilies, I am so glad I decided a few years ago to start putting in more blooming perennials. That was a decision I wish I would have made when I first started gardening.

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Daylily Season Starts

May 4, 2011 at 8:22 pm (Flowers)
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“Daylily Season Starts”, a copyrighted post, was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana

 

The warm weather has ushered in daylily season. The first daylilies started blooming almost two weeks ago with the little reliable Stella d’ora being the absolute first to flower. Last year was the first year I needed to divide these, and now there is a nice line of these little gold flowers in the circle garden.

 

 

Next, to start blooming were the old-fashioned red daylilies. These are from my mother’s garden and were very popular in the ’60’s when she received them from one of her gardening friends.

 

 

A ruffled pink daylily that I purchased just last year was the next to show up. It didn’t have a name tag, which is a shame because this is such a pretty flower. I know it must be a tetraploid because the stems are very sturdy and the flower petals are very thick.

 

 

Happy Returns, a lemon yellow version of Stella d’ora, started blooming just about a week ago. I wish I had more of these. Unfortunately, they are not ready to be divided.

 

 

Next to Happy Returns, I planted a daylily with the same lemon-colored flower, but where Happy Returns makes a small flower, this one has a huge flower. This is the largest daylily flower I have ever seen. These flowers have to be about nine inches across.

 

 

Lavender Girl, another one I bought just last year, has also started blooming. There are a lot of buds on this daylily which surprises me since it hasn’t been in the garden long. It must be very vigorous.

 


The last one to bloom so far, has been a yellow daylily which my mother gave me years ago. She got this one about the same time as the red one pictured above.

 

 

I have added many more daylilies to the garden in the last year, so there are still more to bloom. Most have buds in various stages of development, and a few have none yet (I am sure they are late blooming daylilies.) So, it looks like daylily season will be a nice long one this year.

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You Learn Something New Every Day

July 21, 2010 at 5:21 pm (Flowers)
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“You Learn Something New Every Day”, a copyrighted post, was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana

A few years back, I was startled to see a small plant starting to grow on the flower stem of a daylily (that post is here). I soon found out about poliferation, a leafy shoot on a scape of a daylily plant. It often times will form roots which will allow the shoot to be planted to form a new plant. When it happened to one of my daylilies, the proliferation did not survive.

Usually, I cut back the stems of spent flowers, but somehow, a stem of Misty Mayhaw got by me. Imagine my surprise when I saw buds coming from the middle of the stem. I never thought that a proliferation would have flowers. But, sure enough, there were two buds. The first one did not open properly, but the second on did.

 

 

Now, I have to see if I can get this proliferation to live on its own.

I thought I had seen just about everything, but seeing that flower shows that we always have something new to learn.

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A Daylily Summer

July 11, 2010 at 7:02 pm (Flowers, Perennials)
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“A Daylily Summer”, a copyrighted post, was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana

This certainly is turning out to be a daylily summer. I have added three more daylilies to the garden. Last Friday, my sister and I went out shopping, and, of course, we had to stop at a few nurseries. The heat was almost unbearable, but worth it as I found daylilies in bloom and on sale. My plan to add more blooming perennials to the garden is coming along very well as I am finding so many lovely daylilies.

Please excuse the condition of the flowers. Each plant still has several buds, but I wanted to share the pictures with you as soon as possible, so I took these photos of the flowers at the end of the day after they had been in the car. There is a little wear on the blooms, but you can still see how lovely they are.

Here is Little Wart, such a terrible name for such a lovely flower.

 

 

Next is Clara. I bought two of this variety.

 

 

Finally, there is Joylene Nichole.

 

 

All of these daylilies will go in the “pink” garden. I think that I have enough pink daylilies, and I am now ready to move onto other colors. Some of the darker colors are attractive as well as the spider type daylilies. I am really excited about daylilies now. After adding over ten daylilies to the garden in the last month, this summer is really turning out to be all about daylilies.

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Good Time for Rain

July 2, 2010 at 6:28 pm (Flowers)
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“Good Time for Rain”, a copyrighted post, was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana

For the last four days, I have been attending an institute and have been coming home exhausted. That is the reason I must have forgotten to include in the last post, a photo of the third new daylily that is blooming. So, to rectify that, here is the photo of that daylily that was just purchased last week.

 

 

Also, blooming is an old favorite that has been in the garden for a few years.

 

 

This turned out to be a good week for this institute because it rained every day (which is what the garden needed). While getting around town in the rain was a pain, it also meant that if I was home, I could not have worked in the garden anyway. There is nothing worse than being stuck inside when the weather is gorgeous and the garden is calling you.

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No Resistance

June 29, 2010 at 7:12 pm (Flowers)
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“No Resistance”, a copyrighted post, was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana

No resistance. Recently, I have found that when it comes to daylilies, I have no resistance. If I see one in bloom, I succumb and have to have it. Last Friday, my number 1 sister and I went shopping. Of course, that included plant nurseries. Even though it was blisteringly hot, we trudged through aisle after aisle finding a few plants that we just had to have.

Having decided to plant more blooming perennials, and having such good luck with daylilies, as soon as I saw these blooming beauties, I quickly scooped them up. (Remember after having purchased so many mislabeled plants, I now only buy those that have an open flower.) All the ones I purchased had many unopened buds which would mean I would enjoy a few flowers this year. The first one is Elizabeth Salter, a lovely rose-colored daylily.

 

 

Chicago Apache, a lovely red daylily, found its way into my entry garden.

 

 

The next three had were unlabeled, so I don’t know the names, but that doesn’t matter, they will still add color to the pink garden area.

 

 

 

Having daylilies that bloom at different times, makes giving up the annuals I used to plant easy to do. Resisting the impulse to buy more pretty daylilies seems to be impossible.

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Flowers Changing Color

June 22, 2010 at 6:27 pm (Flowers)
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“Flowers Changing Color”, a copyrighted post, was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana

There are a few plants that have flowers that have changed color as they have settled in my garden. Now, I am not talking about hydrangeas, but other flowers that are not known for changing color. One of the most striking is a gladiolus that started out yellow with a little orange tinge and is now orange with just a small yellow throat. (It was supposed to be an all yellow glad.) But, others have changed colors, too.

Today, my Catherine Woodbury started blooming. While it is a lovely flower, it is not the lavender-pink it is supposed to be. It is really more a pale, creamy yellow with pink undertones.

 

 

When this was first planted, the blooms were a very pale lavender-pink, but instead of getting darker, it seems to be getting paler. Strange. I guess it must have something to do with the soil.

This is not the first time this has happened. When I first planted some daylilies from my mother, they were a dark bronze color. In subsequent years, they have changed to a dark red. Maybe it has to do with fertilizing, the ph of our water, or ??? Anyway, I wish Catherine Woodbury would revert to the correct color.

Have any of you had the same experience with flowers changing colors as this one has done?

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Double Daylilies

June 16, 2010 at 8:05 pm (Flowers)
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“Double Daylilies”, a copyrighted post, was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana

I love frilly flowers. Occasionally, the simple flower form does appeal to me, but in general it is the double, frilly, full flowers that I can’t get enough of.

Two double daylilies just started blooming. The first is Vanilla Fluff. See for yourself. Isn’t it gorgeous?

 

 

I purchased this particular daylily at a garden show in the fall of 2008. The only thing I had to go on was a photo. I don’t think that photo did this flower justice. Otherwise, I would have bought more than two.

The next double is the old fashioned orange. My Number 1 sister gave this to me last year after she received it from my mother’s neighbor. It is very vigorous. This is only the second year it has been in my garden, and already it has multiplied nicely.

 

 

I don’t usually like orange flowers, but I am finding that the color is starting to grow on me. Without realizing it I have added more orange to the garden. It is funny how our tastes can change. My color preferences may change, but I don’t think my love of double flowers ever will.

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